BILL NUMBER: AB 1970 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 19, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Ammiano and Portantino )
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to amend Section Sections 18901.6
and 18914 of, and to add Sections 10003, 11023.6, 11023.7,
and 11023.8 , and 11322.81 to ,
the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social
services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1970, as amended, Skinner. Social Services Modernization and
Efficiency Act of 2012.
Existing law provides for protection, care, and assistance for
people of the state, and the promotion of the welfare and happiness
of all people in the state by providing appropriate aid and services
to the needy and distressed. Programs established for this purpose
include CalWORKs, which provides cash assistance and other social
services to needy families, using federal Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds,
and CalFresh, whereby nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the
state federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by
each county. Counties administer the CalWORKs and CalFresh programs.
This bill, the Social Services Modernization Act of 2012, would
require a final operation al state plan
submitted by any state department
administered by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services
state agency to a federal agency in the context of providing
public social services to be electronically available on the
relevant department's Internet Web site, as specified.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services
and the California Healthcare Eligibility, Enrollment, and
Retention System to seek a waiver from the United States Department
of Agriculture to deliver to promulgate
regulations for delivery of notices and communications
pertaining to CalFresh eligibility and benefits electronically, or
both electronically and by mail, as specified. The bill would
authorize applicants and recipients to opt out of receiving
electronic notice, and would provide for the confidentiality of an
applicant's or recipient's electronic information, as specified.
This bill would prohibit a county from requiring an applicant or
recipient for public benefits to verify information provided to the
county, except when the verification is required by federal law, or
is necessary to determine eligibility for aid or to compute the
amount of aid.
This bill would require county human services departments to
maximize use of electronic means of verifying applicant and recipient
information, and would require the state to work with counties to
develop a protocol enabling statewide use by applicants and
recipients of public social services programs of a specified
electronic database developed to verify eligibility information for
the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
This bill would revise procedures relating to public social
services application and recertification interviews to require these
interviews to be conducted in person, by telephone, or by other
electronic means, to promote administrative efficiency and reduce
costs to applicants and recipients.
Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires every individual,
as a condition of eligibility for aid under the CalWORKs program, to
participate in welfare-to-work activities.
This bill would deem an adult CalWORKs recipient whose youngest
child is under 6 years of age to be in compliance with existing
welfare-to-work requirements if he or she is participating in at
least 20 hours per week of federally eligible welfare-to-work
activities. The bill would provide that a person satisfying these
requirements would be eligible for specified support services, and
would not be subject to sanction for failure or refusal to comply
with program requirements, as specified.
Existing law requires a county welfare department, to the extent
provided by federal law, to provide CalFresh benefits on an expedited
basis to certain households.
This bill would require the expedited service interview to be
postponed, as specified, if there is no information indicating the
applicant's ineligibility for expedited service.
Existing law requires county welfare departments to provide
transitional CalFresh benefits to households terminating their
participation in the CalWORKs program, to the maximum extent
allowable by federal law.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to
implement the above requirement so as to maximize continued
enrollment of eligible recipients, pursuant to a specified federal
regulation.
This bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services
to implement the bill by means of all-county letters or similar
instructions, by January 1, 2013.
Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General
Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program.
This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for
purposes of implementing the bill.
Because this bill would increase duties of counties administering
public social services programs, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Social Services Modernization and Efficiency Act of 2012.
SEC. 2. Section 10003 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
10003. Any final operational state plan submitted by
any department administered by the Secretary of California
Health and Human Services to any federal agency for a
program administered by any department pursuant this division, and
any and all communication relative to the plan, including any
writings relative to any and any approved waiver
requested or received by the any
department, shall be electronically available to the public at all
times on the relevant department's Internet Web site.
SEC. 3. Section 11023.6 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
11023.6. (a) The State Department of Social Services shall
seek a waiver from the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to authorize county human services departments and
the California Healthcare Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention
System (CalHEERs) developed pursuant to the California Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, to deliver notices and
communication pertaining to CalFresh eligibility and benefit issuance
as allowed by subdivision (c) promulgate regulations
to allow for the delivery of notices and communications pertaining to
CalFresh and CalWORKs eligibility and benefit issuance, as provided
in subdivision (c). The department shall seek all
necessary waivers of federal law to implement this section .
(b) The Legislature recognizes that applicants or recipients may
not always have access to electronic mail or the Internet. In order
to ensure that due process and privacy of all applicants and
recipients are protected, the department, in consultation with client
and patient advocates, representatives of county human services
departments, and representatives of county eligibility workers, shall
develop a process whereby applicants and recipients can
affirmatively choose to receive notice of actions or other
communications relevant to their case electronically as provided in
paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive, of subdivision (c).
(c) All applicants and recipients of public social services,
including applicants and recipients of CalFresh benefits under
Section 18900 and any state health subsidy program shall be allowed,
at any time, to affirmatively choose to receive communications and
notices electronically, or both electronically and via the United
States Postal Service as provided by this section. Upon choosing
to receive communication electronically, the recipient shall be
informed in writing of his or her right to opt out of electronic
communications at any time, in accordance with paragraph (2). The
administering agencies or departments shall respond to all
undeliverable or rejected electronic communications by unsubscribing
the recipient from electronic communications and reinstating postal
service delivery of all notices and documents, beginning with the
notice that was undelivered or rejected electronically, and shall
inform the recipient or head of household how to request electronic
delivery of notifications and communications as established in this
section.
(1) No notice or other form of communication shall be sent
electronically unless that method of communication has been
affirmatively requested in writing , or electronically, with an
electronic signature, by the applicant or recipient. A record
of the request required by this paragraph and of each notice and
communication sent electronically or otherwise shall be maintained in
the recipient's case file for three years, as required by Section
10851.
(2) An applicant or recipient may opt out of receiving electronic
notices, in writing, in person, by telephone, or by electronic mail.
A request to opt out shall be processed within 24 hours of receipt.
For victims of domestic violence, the county shall cease all
communication with the applicant or recipient until the request to
opt out of electronic communication has been processed.
(3) All notices sent electronically shall be sent via secured
server. No notice shall be sent as an electronic mail attachment.
For all notices sent, administering agencies or departments
shall have the ability to be informed when the recipient has opened
or "downloaded" the notice, and shall send notices via the United
States Postal Service if the recipient has not opened or downloaded
the notice or there is not proof that a notice sent electronically
was received and opened within seven days of having been sent.
Each electronic communication shall include the
information that the recipient of the electronic communication has
the right to opt out of receiving electronic communication at any
time, with instructions for how to do so. For all notices sent via
electronic communication, administering agencies or departments shall
have the ability to be informed when the recipient has opened or
downloaded the notice, and shall send an electronic reminder notice
to the recipient if the notice has not been opened or downloaded
within seven days of having been sent .
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in
addition to issuing notices of action pursuant to paragraph (3),
notices of action terminating benefits, sanctioning
benefits, or establishing an intentional program violation for any
household member or for establishing or collecting an overpayment,
underpayment, overissuance or underissuance from recipients or former
recipients shall be sent via the United States Postal Service.
(5) Every effort shall be made to maintain privacy and security of
applicant or recipient information at all times.
(6) All electronic communication and data storage shall comply
with state security standards , which . The
state security standards shall be posted on the department's
Internet Web site and on the home page for all online
applications.
(d) Under no circumstances shall data that is available
electronically that identifies an applicant or recipient, the
permanent or temporary internet protocol (IP) address assigned to an
applicant or recipient, or the geographic location of the IP address
or mobile device, their Internet activity or any other information
that is available through the Internet, be collected or used for any
purpose other than transmitting information to the applicant or
recipient as authorized by this section.
SEC. 4. Section 11023.7 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
11023.7. (a) A Notwithstanding Section
10830, a county shall not require an applicant for or recipient
of aid pursuant this chapter to provide verification of information
provided to the county, unless verification is federally required,
and necessary to determine eligibility for aid or to compute the
amount of aid, and the information is not already available to the
county eligibility worker. Additional information not required by
federal law or necessary to determine eligibility for aid or compute
the amount of aid may be requested from an applicant or recipient,
but the individual's eligibility for aid shall not be delayed,
denied, or terminated due to his or her failure to provide this
information.
(b) A county human services department shall maximize the use of
electronic means of verifying information required to be verified for
any applicant or recipient of aid pursuant to this chapter, except
for information that federal law permits to be verified through
self-attestation statement of the applicant or recipient. If the
necessary information is not contained in the county human services
department case files, and self-attestation is not legally
sufficient, the county human services department shall search all
available databases accessible to county human services departments
to verify all eligible information, pursuant to statewide protocols
developed by the department as provided in this subdivision. At
a minimum, the state shall work with representatives of county human
services departments and representatives of county eligibility
workers, and public benefits advocates to establish a statewide
protocol enabling the use of the electronic database developed for
verification of eligibility information for applicants and recipients
under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010
(PPACA) for applicants for and recipients of CalWORKs, CalFresh, and
other social services programs , and to identify other
available federal and state databases, and establish protocols for
searching those databases for information pursuant to this
subdivision .
(c) An applicant for or recipient of aid under this chapter whose
information is electronically verified pursuant to this section shall
be given an opportunity to review the information obtained
electronically and to make corrections, as necessary. An applicant or
recipient of aid who disputes the accuracy of electronically
verified information that is federally required and necessary to
determine eligibility for aid or to compute the amount of aid may be
required to provide verification of the disputed information.
SEC. 5. Section 11023.8 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
11023.8. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, all application and
recertification interviews shall be conducted in person, by
telephone, or through other electronic means to provide for more
efficiency in the administration of the program and to reduce the
transportation costs to applicants and recipients associated with
those interviews.
(b) The Except for applications from
applicants who may be eligible for benefits under Sections 11266 and
18914, the department or the county welfare department shall
schedule the interview at least 10 working days in advance, and shall
provide a notice that contains the date, time, and place of the
interview. If the applicant or recipient appears for the scheduled
interview on time , the interview shall be conducted
within 30 minutes of the time that the individual arrives at
the interview location interview was scheduled
.
(c) If the department or county welfare department offers an
on-demand telephone interview option, the notice required by
subdivision (b) shall inform the applicant or recipient of this
option and how to phone in for the interview.
(d) The notice shall also inform the applicant or recipient that
he or she may conduct the interview through the various electronic
means available prior to the scheduled appointment, including
telephone interview, online interview, or interview in a chat room.
The notice shall be developed in consultation with advocates,
counties and labor representatives, and shall provide this
information in language that is accessible to applicants and
recipients, including language access.
(c) The notice required by subdivision (b) shall inform the
applicant or recipient of all options available in that county for
completing the interview prior to the scheduled appointment,
including telephone interview, online interview, and on-demand
telephone interview.
(d) The notice required by subdivision (b) shall be developed in
consultation with advocates, counties, and county eligibility
workers, and shall provide this information in language that is
accessible to applicants and recipients, including those with limited
English proficiency.
SEC. 6. Section 11322.81 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code , to read:
11322.81. Notwithstanding any other law, an adult recipient whose
youngest child is under six years of age, and who is participating
in at least 20 hours per week of federally eligible welfare-to-work
activities, shall be deemed to be in compliance with the requirements
of Section 11322.8. In addition, necessary supportive services for
these participants shall be provided in order to participate in
activities or employment pursuant to Sections 11323.2 and 11323.4,
and these participants shall not be subject to sanction for failure
or refusal to comply with program requirements under Section 11327.4.
SEC. 7. Section 18901.6 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code is amended to read:
18901.6. To (a) The
L egislature finds and declares that 40 percent of
CalWORKs recipients who receive transitional CalFresh benefits
reapply to receive regular CalFresh benefits.
(b) To the maximum extent
allowable by federal law, each county welfare department shall
provide transitional CalFresh benefits to households terminating
their participation in the CalWORKs program. The department
shall implement this section so as to maximize continued
enrollment of eligible recipients, pursuant to Section 273.31(b) of
Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
SEC. 6. SEC. 8. Section 18914 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code, as amended by Section 88 of Chapter
227 of the Statutes of 2011, is amended to read:
18914. (a) To the extent provided by federal law, the county
welfare department shall provide CalFresh benefits on an expedited
basis to households determined to be in immediate need of food
assistance.
(b) At the time an applicant initially seeks assistance, the
county welfare department shall screen all expedited service
applications on a priority basis. Applicants who meet the federal
criteria for expedited service shall receive either a manual
authorization to participate or automated card or the immediate
issuance of CalFresh benefits no later than the third day following
the date the application was filed. To the maximum extent permitted
by federal law, the amount of income to be received from any source
shall be deemed to be uncertain and exempt from consideration in the
determination of eligibility for expedited service. For purposes of
this subdivision, a weekend shall be considered one calendar day.
(c) The State Department of Social Services shall develop and
implement for expedited issuance a uniform procedure for verifying
information required of an applicant.
(d) The expedited service interview shall be postponed and
conducted at the same time that the interview for regular issuance of
CalFresh benefits is scheduled pursuant to Section 11023.8, if there
is no verifiable information at the disposal of the state or county
welfare department that indicates the applicant's ineligibility for
expedited service.
(d) The expedited service interview that has been attempted shall
be postponed and conducted at the same time that the interview for
regular issuance of CalFresh benefits is scheduled pursuant to
Section 11023.8, if there is no verifiable information at the
disposal of the state or county human services department that
indicates the applicant's ineligibility for expedited service. The
department shall seek all necessary waivers of federal law to
implement this section.
(e) If the applicant meets expedited service eligibility
requirements, the applicant shall not be denied expedited services if
he or she provides a valid social security number unless the county
human services department is unable to use this number to verify
identity through the Medi-Cal Eligibility Data System (MEDS) or any
other database available to the county human services department.
Once identity is verified, all other verification shall be postponed
for 30 days, if permitted by federal law.
SEC. 7. SEC. 9. Notwithstanding the
rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter
3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
2 of the Government Code), the department may implement this act
through an all-county letter or similar instruction from the
director. The all-county letter or similar instruction shall be
issued no later than January 1, 2014.
SEC. 8. SEC. 10. No appropriation
pursuant to Section 15200 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall
be made for purposes of this act.
SEC. 9. SEC. 11. If the Commission
on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by
the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for
those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section
17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.